Katsumi
by BlackRoseButterflies
Summary: Katsumi feels like she isn't needed by anyone and takes her own life. Suddenly, she wakes up in front of the 104 building to find out that she's playing the Reaper's Game! Fail summary is fail.
1. Prologue

**Warning: Possible spoilers to those who are going to/ still are playing the game The World Ends With You. I can guarantee that there won't be anything more than some kissy action if that. Characters may be a little OOC, but... This is my first ever fanfic, soo... Be nice, please? :3**

Prologue

Katsumi stood on the railing of the stone bridge, her toes hanging over the edge. People walked by, giving her worried looks, but not stopping to say anything. –Of course…- She thought, -No one ever cared, so why should they start now? - She gazed down into the water below her, tempted to jump right there. –No. I have to wait. Just have to wait until they come. I'll make them regret that they never did anything.-

She heard a car coming from the left. Without looking she knew –They're here. - "Katsumi!" She heard her mother call," Katsumi, please don't do it! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

-No you're not. Quit lying. I hate people who lie. - Katsumi turned to look at her mother, who was running frantically toward her. Before her mom could reach her, she leaned forward a little and let gravity take over.

The last thing she saw before she plunged headfirst into the lake was the smiling face of her father as he calmly walked to the spot where she lept from, where her mother now stood half hanging over the edge with one arm stretched out, as if to grab her falling daughter.

-Yes, that's right.- Katsumi thought as she hit the water, -Feel bad that you never did anything for me. Feel bad that you never showed that you cared. Feel terrible that you'll never see me again.-


	2. Day 1

Day 1

Katsumi woke in front of the 104 building. How she got there? No idea. But she didn't really care anymore. Suddenly, her phone beeped, signaling that she got a text message. She pulled it out of her pocket and flipped it open. 'Reach da statu of Hachiko. U hav 60 min. Fail 2 complete da mission n face erasure.' It read.

"What the hell?" She thought out loud, "God, stupid junk mail. Good-bye, spam!" But as soon as she went to delete the text, it wouldn't go away! "The hell is going on?" There was a strong electrical shock that coursed through her body, starting with her right hand. She looked at it and a red timer was on her hand.

After staring at it for a little whiloe, she slightly remembered a conversation she had with a strangelt familiar man about some sort of game and erasure. It then dawned on her that the message was real and that she could die. Again!

-But that guy also said something about an 'entry fee'. - She tapped her chin while thinking, -So what was my fee, again? Most important thing… Most. Important. Thing. *gasp* Hiroshi!- With the realization of the possibility, she ran toward the scramble.

Then, some face symbol appeared before her then a flash of light and a weird frog took its place. Not knowing exactly what it was or what to do, she tried to run away from it, but it summoned others of its kind and blew bubbles at her, which, surprisingly, really hurt.

Then, a boy with bright orange hair stepped between her and the frog. "Hey, make a pact with me!" He shouted.

"W-what?" She managed to say.

"Make a pact with me! Hurry! Then we can fight the noise!"

"The noise? Oh, that frog! A pact? O-okay."

There was a bright flash of blue light. "Okay, let's do this!" The boy said, getting in a fighting stance. They attacked the 'noise' and Katsumi's body started moving on its own, slashing, shooting, slicing the frogs.

Soon they were gone and the two were left enemy free. The boy sighed and said, "Why am I doing this, again…?" He scratched behind his head before turning to Katsumi and holding out his hand. "Neku Sakabura…" He said, "Looks like you'll be my partner for this week."

Not exactly getting what he said, she cocked her head to the side and took his hand with her shaky one." Katsumi Kiryu." She said.

"Pretty. Now, about the mission…" He let go of her hand and pulled out his phone, looking at the message.

"You got that message, too?"

"Well… Yeah! All the players get the same mission mail. I'm sure it'd be a pain to give out different missions to different players."

"Different players?"

"How do you think I'm here?"

"Oh… True…"

"Anyway, c'mon! Let's head over to Hachiko! There's only a few minutes left!"

She nodded and quickly followed him to their destination, having no trouble passing the wall.

"We made it." Neku sighed.

"Yeah… Now. Can you… Explain what's going on?" Katsumi asked.

"Well… We have to win the 'game' that we're playing. At the end of the week, they award the person with the most of points with a second chance at life.

"At life? Oh yeah… I…" She hung her head, feeling slightly embarrassed. She couldn't tell this boy that she wouldn't deserve a second chance. And, even if it was true, that wasn't something she thought she would want someone to think.

-I killed myself! - She thought, -Do I really deserve a second chance? Besides… I'm sure Neku deserves it WAY more than I do… I should just throw it and let him win… But what would happen to me then? … Oh well… I don't know why I should care, anyway…-


	3. Possible Discontinuation

Sorry this isn't an actual update...

I don't think I'll be uploading anymore to this story... I been able to write much of anything and... Well, this one didn't really have much going for it to begin with...

I may re-think my decision, but I'm not sure at this point... Just thought I'd let people know this...


	4. Day 2 IT CONTINUES

**A/N: Hey, look! I'm still writing! :D **

**Yeah, how long has it been since I've uploaded a new chapter? I don't even know. (I knew I should have waited before I even started uploading, so that I had a couple extra chapters ready incase of situations like this.) But hopefull this wont happen again! Also, I believe some people said it was confusing to tell when she was thinking or not. Well that's what I use the - for. For example, if I put -He has pretty eyes- she's thinkning it. (I don't think I'll be letting you into anyone else's head except for hers.) So... Yeah... **

**Also, sorry for anything that I may get wrong. How something works or characters and such... It's been a while since I played (as much as I hate to say it) and I can't seem to find the game at the moment... (TT-TT) And I have the worst memory ever. (I'm a terrible parson. Xl) **

**Disclaimer: (Totally forgot for the other chapters, didn't I?) I do not own The World Ends With You or it's characters. If I did, it would probably suck. XD **

**Anyway, sorry for the huge wait! Here's Day 2 (Sorry for spelling and grammar mistakes.)**

**Day 2  
-**

"-mi." Katsumi heard a voice trying to wake her from her not so pleasant dreams. "-tsumi!" Who's voice was that? Why'd it sound so familiar? Was that her name it was calling?

"KATSUMI!" Neku shook the girl awake from her nightmare she was having. "Katsumi, the mission is here and the timers are ticking..." Neku said calmly.

"What is it? How long?" She asked.

He pulled out his phone and read out loud. "Go 2 Udagawa n sho off ur moves. 120 min fail an be erased."

She looked at the palm of her hand. The weird red numbers had returned. 1:04 they read. -Looks like he's been trying to wake me up for a while, now. We've wasted a lot of time.-

"We should get going. I'd hate to see what it's like to be erased." Neku said, starting to walk away. Katsumi followed without a word.

Before they could move to the next part of town, a bunch of face monsters, rather, noise symbols apeared before them. "You ready for this?!" Nemu asked, preparing for battle. -A-am I?- She thought, clutching her hands to her chest. -I've never fought before! I don't know how to! Y-yesterday... I don't know what that was!- Neku charged at one of the creatures. Another one came at her. She squezed her eyes shut, preparing for it to hit. -Please don't!- But nothing ever came.

"Easy." She heard Neku say to himself. She opened her eyes to see that the monsters were gone. Neku came towards her. "I don't know what you were doing, but it felt like I was the one doing all the work. You want a second chance, right? If you don't try harder, we could both be in trouble, okay?"

-But I don't WANT a second chance. Not if I have to go back there. Who put me in a game to give back life, anyway?! Don't they know I killed myself?! I have nothing good to came back to life for!-

Neku sighed. "Well, whatever. Let's keep moving. Time won't stop just because we're 'chatting'." He said the last word sarcastically. "I can already tell this is going to be a pain..." He said under his breath and started moving forward, again.

-Well _sorry _I don't feel like speaking my mind to a complete stranger. -she thought as she followed him, starting to rethink her feelings from the other day. -It's not like we have to be best friends or anything just to complete a couple of stupid missions, right?-

They got pretty far without any trouble. But when they reached the AMX building they were stopped by... An elephant? -What's this doing here?- She thought. -Then again...-

"What the hell?" Neku said," It's the second day and they're already throwing out these things?... Dammit..."

Katsumi sighed. She was already tired of trying to make it look like she was fighting and from how it sounded, this thing was tough. Oh well.

Before either of them could move, the black beast with red eyes trumpeted adn stomped its huge feet, making them lose their balance. The thing came at them before they could stand back up. It raised its trunk, reday to wack the unprepared girl. She pu her arms up in defense, expecting a lot of pain. But, again, it never came.

There was a loud thud. Katsumi opened her eyes and saw Neku laying half way up the stairs. -Did he just take the hit for me? But why? That's stupid!-

Instead of attacking her, the being right in front of it, the elephant went for Neku, who wasn't moving at the moment. -Of course it'd go for the easy kill. heaven forbid the one you're going to kill puts up a fight. People like that need to just hurry up and die!- Thinking about it made her pissed off. That and she wasn't about to let anyone die for her.

Actually ready to fight this time, she quickly ran to Neku before the animal got to him and stood between them. She let out her rage on the beast, cutting and slicing all over. Getting more angry when it didn't bleed or make any noise of pain when she hit.

For some reason, the monster was slow now. It never hit her, but it made her lose her balance multiple times. Which only fueled her anger. Since she was using fast movements when she could, the creature soon fell, turning into some weir static and then disapeared.

Quickly she went to check and see if her partner was okay. Must have been quite a blow if he still hadn't moved yet, and she was starting to get worried. She got down next to him. But as she went to check his pulse, his eyes fluttered open, making her jump back from surprise.

"A-are you okay?" She stuttered. He nodded, but held his head.

"I'll... Be fine... In a second..." He slowly used his other arm to prop himself up.

After a second of silence, Katsumi looked away awkwardly and asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

She looked at him again. "Protect me? You could have seriously been hurt!"

"Because... You're my partner..." He stared her in the eye with a serious expression.

"B-but what if I didn't do anything to help?!"

"I trusted that you would. And you did. Good job."

-How can you do something like that over trust for someone you don't even know?!- She thought.

He quickly stood up, obviously feeling better, and held out his hand to help her up. " 'Trust your partner'. An important thing you need to know in order to survive here." He said with a smile. She looked up at him, skkeptilly taking his hand and he pulled her to her feet. -I'd probably be called a fool, but... Something in me is saying that I should believe him...-

"Anyway... Let's talk later! The countdown is still going!" He said, not letting go of her hand as they continued to their destination.

Finally they reached Udagawa. Once they stopped running,, Katsumi pulled her hadn away from Neku's. He looked at the palm of his hand. "Still fifteen minutes left... How exactly do we do this, now?" He took out his phone and read the mission out loud, again. " 'Go 2 Udagawa n sho off ur moves'. Our moves for what?" He turned to look at Katsumi. "Any ideas?" -How should I know?! I barely even know what's going on!- She thought, but just shook her head 'no'.Neku sighed and continued to look around.

Minutes passed. They came up with nothing. It started to look like it was over. But then it came.

A huge yellow lion with fire for its mane and tail apeared with a loud roar.

"That's... New..." Neku said quietly, looking up at the over sized beast.

The lion roared again then started running towards them, not giving them much tim to prepare. -He looks tough.- Katsumi thought. -I don't know if I'm strong enough! ... No! No time to think like that! I have to help fight!- She discarded any doubts she had and focused her full attention on destroying the large cat.

Since it was so big, it was strong but (other than attacking) it didn't move much. Because it couldn't. Katsumi's strategy was to hit it from underneath, since she was small enough to run under. Not the best plan, sure, but it worked.

-I don't think I can take much more.- She thought. -He's so strong. Body hurts.- Suddenly, the pain was gone and she was filled with a power she had never experienced before. Feeling as if she could take down anything with just one punch.

Charging at the feline head on with a smile on her face, she sttacked one last time. The sound messed with her ears, being so close to the static, as it disapeared. She fell to her knees to catch her breath. A feeling of relief washed over her.

"We did it." Neku congradulated, joining her at her side. "Nice job, by the way. We somehow even managed to do fusion. I was surprised." -Fusion? Was that what the feeling was?-

She looked at him, confused. he didn't seem to notice, so she asked, "...Fusion...?"

"Oh, uhm... It means we were in sync. At the end of the battle? You felt stronger, right?" She nodded, then sighed inwardly. -And here I thought it was me... But of course not...-

She looked away, disapointed in herself. "Before... You said something... I didn't get it..." She sad.

He thought for a second, then replied, "You mean 'trust you partner'?" She nodded, still not looking at him. "What's not to get? You and I need to trust each other."

Sighing, she let out, "I don't understand how... We're strangers..." -I can't even trust the people I know.-

"Well, then let's get to know each other. I'm Neku Sakabura. I was born and raised here in Shibuya, 16 years old, and, yes, this is my natural hair color... getting sick of people asking that..." Katsumi chuckled , but decided against speaking. "Oh, c'mon. So far all I know is that your name is Katsumi. I want to know more."

After a few moments of major decision making, Katsumi spoke up. "15... Born and raised here... Katsumi Kiryu... I like... Sweets..." There was no reply. Curious, she turned to look at him.

His eyes were wide, as iif surprised. "K-Kiryu, huh? ... Don't tell me... Any family? ... I'm an only child."

She narrowed her eyes. -Why does he care so much? Weird.- "Why...?"

"Just wondering."

she looked down at the ground. -Maybe... If I just pretend... He's someone else... Maybe I'll be able to talk.- She closed her eyes and imagined she was talking to a different person. Someone she actuaally liked from when she was alive. "I... Had a brother... But... He died a while ago... Didn't get along with parents well... After he died, they... Changed..."

"Changed...?"

-They treated me like I was nothing and didn't care about me in the slightest...- Though she knew what she wanted to say, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Neku sighed. "Well, that's a start."

**-A/N: Bad ending, I know, but I couldn't think of any other way to end it and it seemed like if I kept going, it got worse. So here I shall end. **

**Thank you for reading. Reviews make me happy and are greatly appreciatedd, even if thet're like 'wtf' or something. **

**Though I have to thank you especially, SilverWingedGentleman, for encouraging me all this time. (If it weren't for you, I honestly would not have posted this chapter.) **

**~ 3**


	5. Day 3

**A/N: Hey, look! I'm not taking months and months to upload another chapter! :D **

**I don't own The World Ends With You, all right? So don't flip tables or... Something... **

**Day 3  
-**

Katsumi's eyes slowly fluttered open as she woke on the ground. -Where am I?- She thought, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty." a voice said from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Neku sitting on a park bench. They were by Hachiko. "How'd you sleep?" He asked, turning down the music he had been listening to so that he could actually hear her reply.

She took a moment to answer. "... Okay..." She said, turning her view down to her skirt. Then she remembered from yesterday. Quicklly turing her head back to face him, she asked, "What's the mission?"

He chuckled a bit and smiled. "It hasn't come, yet." -Hasn't come, yet? What exactly does that mean...- "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. One will probably come sooner or later. And even if one doesn't come, lucky us."

"What do we do untill then?"

"Wait, I guess..." She nodded. Getting tired of sitting on the ground she stood up and patted the dirt off of herself. "That is, unless you'd like to go somewhere with me until then." Neku said out of nowhere. she looked at him curiously. So he explained," There's a nice little cafe on the other side of town that we could go to. The owner is pretty awesome."

Katsumi sighed, but nodded." Sure..." -Maybe doing something like this will be good for me, anyway...-

"All right, then!" Neku exclaimedm oudning a bit more excitedthan he normally would." Let's get going right now!" He quickly stood up and started walking at a somewhat fast pace.

Once they got to Moloco, she decided to ask exactly where they were going." It's a small cafe called Wild Kat. On Cat Street. You'll probably like it, I hope."

"Oh... Okay..." She said. Then thought, -But can't no one see us? I mean, if we're invisible out here, then... Well, whatever... I guess we'll see when we get there... Besides, maybe the mission will come before then and I'll be saved.- Really, she didn't want to go to this cafe, but Neku sounded so happy about it, she just couldn't say no. And if she were to say no, she didn't want him to be sad or mad at her about it, so might as well go the safe route and put up with it.

Surprisingly, on their way to their there, they didn't even see any noise, let alone fight any. Eventually they did reach their self-proclaimed destination.

"And here we are." Neku said as he held the door open to Wild Kat for Katsumi. She took a few steps in and looked around a bit... Seemed like a cozy little place. To the right there were noises coming from behind the bar.

Suddenly, a suspicious looking man apeared and gave them a wide smile. "hey, Phones! How's it going?"

"Doing good." Neku replied, taking a seat at the bar in front of him.

-So I guess we can be seen.- She thought, taking the seat next to Neku.

"Hey, if you're gonna stay long, buy something."

"Sure. I'll, uh... Get me a house blend."

"No problem. And for the lady?"

Katsumi flinched at the sudden attention. "I. Uhm, I'll... Same, please."

"All right, just a moment." He disapeared, again, only to come back a few minutes later with two steaming mugs in his hands. He set them down in front of the two teens. They took out their wallets and gave him the money for the bills.

After a few moments of silence, the man spoke up." So, are ther going to be introductions, or what?"

"Oh, sorry." Neku said, takaing a sip of his drink." This is Katsumi Kiryu. Katsumi, this is Mr. Hanekoma."

"Oh? So this is she, eh?" The man called 'Hanekoma' said, leaning in and getting a closer look at Katsumi. "Wow. Aside from your eyes, I cna barely see the resemblance. But those are almost exactly the same."

She gave him a questioning look. -Does he know someone in my family or something? But he made it sound like he's heard of me before. I'm positive none of them would even think of talking about me. No doubt about that.- She thought.

"Hah ha-!" he chuckled," I've heard quite a few stories about you. Some even multiple times. He just LOVES to talk about you." -He?! He who?-" I wonder how he's doing right now. Haven't seen him since before the new game started."

-New game? Probably the one Neku and I are playing right now, I bet. But how does he know about it?- Neku was about to open his mouth and say something when there was a familiar loud noise and the stinging feeling from before returned to their hands. They looked at their palms and saw the red letters '19:56' rapidly decreasing. "w-what?!" He exclaimed, taking out his phone and fliping it open. "B-but there's-... There's no mssion, yet! So why-. Why is the timer running?!"

"Mission? Timer? Phones, don't tell me you're-"

"Yeah, we're in the game." Neku interupted. "You know anything about this?" He asked, sounding very panicked.

"No idea." Mr. Hanekoma replied. "I know they seem to be having some problems with the new GM, but... This is terrible!"

"Damn. We. Better go. Try to get this all firgured out."

"But Phones! I thought you weren't allowed in the game anymore?"

"It's a long story!" Neku called as he bolted out the door, Katsumi close behind.

"What are we going to do?" She asked as they laft Cat Street.

"I don't know! How do we complete a mission that hasn't been given out, yet?!"

They ran everywhere, trying their hardest to figure out what they needed to do. Yet their efforts were wasted. There was no way anyone ould figure out what they had to do in a situation like that.

As their final moments came near, they collapsed on their knees to catch their breath. "Neku..." Katsumi heaved," What are we going to do...?"

He couldn't look at her as he said," I don't think there's anything we CAN do... As much as I hate to say it..." He looked at his timer and sighed. "Is this it...?"

-Funny.- she thought, -Just three days ago I was able to push myself to jump off that bridge without even thinking about what would come after. And now... I think I may actually be afraid of what comes after death...-

The clock ran out. They squeezed their eyes shut tight and waited. After a few seconds they heard someone rushing towards them.

"Hey, Katsumi." Neku said, sounding more calm than before. "Let's make a run for it. They can't erase us if they can't find us, can they?" He took her by the hand and they started running, again. They ran and ran as fast as they could, hoping their plan would work.

"Get back here! You can't run!" A voice shouted from behind them. But they didn't dare turn around to see who the owner of the voice was.

"In here! We can hide!" Neku said, pulling them into the A-Easy concert stage area. The lights were out and they couldn't see a thing. They ran to the right till they hit a wall. "I think we lost him." Neku whispered.

There was silence. Not a sound was made, not a word was said. Then it sounded like something on wheels was headed their way. Getting closer and closer.

"I no you're in ere!" A voice said." Come on out! You can't hide from me! I will fin ya! Aha!" Suddenly all the lights came on, completely blinding the two. They covered their eyes from the light." Now I got yo- huh?"

"No way...!"

"Ph-phones?!"

Standing in front of them was a muscular boy who looked to be about the same age as they. A black skull beanie covered most of his blonde hair. Really, he looked like a typical skater kid.

"Beat!"

"Phones, what are you doing here?!" The boy exclaimed, getting off of his skater board and picking it up.

"I should ask you the same thing. What's going on?!" Neku replied.

-I guess they know each other... Or something...- Katsumi thought, looking back and forth between them as they talked.

"Dude, someone came an ask me to be the GM for this week! Feels so awesome!"

"Y-youre the... Game Master...?" Neku said as his eyes widened.

"Yah, man! Ain't it great!?" He seemed almost happy and exited about this.

Neku hung his head... "But... Then that means..."

"Hey, you see any players 'round ere? I'm looking for some. Who would think that I'd already be done with this on only day three. Guess the mission was too hard for them." He laughed. Maybe he thought that other people getting erased because of his own mistake was funny.

"Beat... You didn't even give us a mission... Just the timer..." Neku said, his voice sounding so distraut.

'Beat' stopped laughing and gave him an odd look." Whadaya mean 'didn' give out a mission'? And what to you mean 'us'?!" With the second sentance his eyes got bigger, obviously surprised.

Neku looked at him with sad eyes." Katsumi and I are in the game, again. We're the players you're looking for." He stated.

The other backed up." N-no way, man. I can't erase you! You're my best friend, yo! I can't do that!"

"You shouldn't be erasing people like this!" He took out his phone and opened it to show the lack of a mission.

"Wait, huh?" Beat took the phone and looked at it some more, probably trying to find the mission that wasn't there. "Auuugh." He took out his own phone and looked at that. "Bwaaaaaaah, I forgot to send the message!" he face palmed. "God dammit, and I already erased so many people!" Now he looked back at Neku with tears in his eyes." So many, man. Just you and two more are left."

"Beat, why?! Why did you agree to do this?!"

Now he looked like a deer in headlights. It looked like he was about to say something when, but instead, he turned around and skated off.

Neku collapsed on the ground in a heap and held in his hands. Katsumi bent down next to him and put her arm around him. Though she wasn't exactly sure what just went on, she knew that she needed some form of comfort more now than ever needed before. This was proved true when his shoulders began to tremble and tears started to fall from his face. **-****A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter... Then again, I'm never really sure... XD I just feel like I'm getting the characters all wrong or something... Xl **

**But I guess that's what you guys are for, right? :D Maybe you would like to click the review button aaaand maybe tell me what you think? That would be LOADS of help. X3 **

**I had help of a special someone, Fruityloo, who helped me out a bit with this chapter. ;) **

**Either way, thank you for reading and I hope you continue on reading in the future. **

**~ 3**


	6. Day 4

**A/N: Waaaaaaah, poor Nekky. D'X I feel like a jerk... **

**BUT I LIKE IT! :D  
**

**And sorry for the late update. I don't even have a legitimate excuse.  
**

**Anyway, I don't own The World Ends With You, okay.  
**

**Day 4  
-**

"Hnnng." Katsumi woke with a groan. Sleeping on the ground was not doing so well on her neck. She slowly sat up and looked around. Out in the scramble, again. To her left was a still sleeping Neku. He was all scrunched up into a ball.

At first glance it looked like he was sleeping relatively soundly. Until you looked a bit closer. His hands were up by his head and were clenched tightly together. His facial expression was twisted as if he was having a nightmare.

-Maybe I should wake him up.- Katsumi thought, scooting a little closer to him. -It looks as if the dream is terrifying him!- She put a hand on his shoulder and called his name a few times, trying to shake him awake.

Suddenly, Neku's eyes flew open and he sat up abruptly, breathing heavily. Katsumi took in a deep breath of surprise and moved back a bit to give him some more space. "A-are you okay?" She asked, leaning in to get a better look at his face.

His eyes were big, but he managed to collect himself before he replied, "Ye-yeah. I'm-. J-just fine. Thanks." Though he said this, his face an still heavy breathing said otherwise.

"Do you... Want to talk about it?" She asked knowingly, trying to be as he would, if the situation were flipped. He only shook his head 'no'. "You... Sure...?" She asked worriedly, "It seemed pretty bad. Your dream." -What am I doing... This isn't like me! Do I actually care? Well, yes, but... Oh, I don't know. Whatever.-

Neku sighed, shook his head and pulled out his phone. At first Katsumi thought he was just checking the time or if there was a mission or somethin, but it became aparent that he was actuall avoiding her when he continued to play with it without saying anything to her. She frowned and awkwardly stood up. Sitting on the ground like that was nasty.

Then she began to people watch. Something she would often do when she found herself in a crowd with nothing else to do like this. Just make an inner comment about someone then move on to the next person. She found it quite fun.

Suddenly something caught her eye. -Wait, is that...?- She squinted and tried to move around and try to get a better view of the person. -It is! I know that bag anywhere!- Quickly he ran off towards the familiar boy, completey forgetting about the depressed one now behind her.

"Wait, where are you going?!" She heard him call, most likely chasing after her, but she didn't turn around to see, because she was actually starting to catch up to her friend.

Ffinally she called his name and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hiroshi!" She exclaimed. He turned around and met her gaze.

"Ka-Katsumi?!" He nearly shouted, "What are you doing here?!"

She frowed. "... Nothing, really..." -just playing a gome of life and death. That's all.-

"hey, you okay?" He asked, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I mean. Under the circumstances." She shook her head 'no'.

All of a sudden another girl appeared from behind him and tugged on his shirt sleee. "Hiroshi, come on! Let's go! You promised me we could go shopping before the day starts!" She whinned, trying to get him to move.

Katsumi looked at the girl curiously, glared daggers, then looked back to him. "Hiroshi, isn't tihs that one girl you told me about who continued to stalk you, even after you told her to leave you alone? Why are you hanging out with her?"

The girl stopped her whinning and turned to glare at Katsumi. "Uhm, ecuse me?!" She snapped, folding her arms over her chest. "Hiroshi is my BOYFRIEND. Who do you think you are?! Calling me a talker like that! I think YOU'RE the stalker!"

Katsumi looked up at Hiroshi, expecting him to defend her, but instead saw that he was almost glaring down at her, too. "See! He doesn't like you, so go away! And leave us alone!" Before she could move, the girl dragged him into 104.

Katsumi did not move from that place. -Could-... Could that be true...?- She thought as she stared blankly at the doors that had went into. -Could all of before of been an act or a lie?! He was the only person I could talk to. I told him literally everything. Did he really not care? Did he find me annoying?-

Her thoughts were interupted by the sound of her phone going off. -Oh! The mission!- She took it out and looked at the new message. 'Go to the top of the 104 building. You only have 30 minutes. Better hurry or you will be erased,' As she read this, that shocking feeling returned and the timer appeared.

-Hmmm...- Katsumi thought, continueing to stare at the message. -This is one is different than all the rest! I can actually understand everything it says! And the mission seems pretty easy, too.-

She was about to start heading for the enterance of 104, when she was stopped in her tracks by some sort of invisible wall. She winced as she touched it, because it seemed to have shocked her. She noticed a man with a red hood pulled over his head who was obviously staring right at her. -I probably look ridiculous to him.- She figured. -Oh well... If I did go in, I'd risk running into Hiroshi and that girl, again, anyway...-

Suddenly the hooded man approached her. "Where's your partner, little miss?" He said with a bit of a giggle to his voice.

Hearing this reminder, she about slapped herself in the face. -I completely forgot about Neku! I can't believe I did that!- She quickly turned around and ran back toward the crossing where she had left him. But when she got to the spot he was no longer there. -This isn't good.- She thought as she began to frantically look around in search for her partner. "N-Neku?" She called into the crowd. "Are you- here?" -... It's no use... Not like he'd actually be able to hear me through this loud crowd of people. Maybe he saw the mission text and went to 104, already!-

She ran to 104, again, almost running into that wall a second time. He wasn't there, either. -No! Where could he be?!- She looked around even more alarmed. -There are less than ten minutes left! We're going to fail and be erased if we don't hurry! ... What am I going to do...- Carefully she sat down, making sure not to touch the wall and hurt herself.

Unexpectedly, she heard a voice from behind her say, "Oh, look. A sitting duck." and a large noise apeared before her. It was colored much like the elephan from day two only a giant rhino. it was black and white and had red eyes. Katsumi stumbled to her feet, unprepared for battle. Though when she went to attack, no weapon appeared and she missed.

-What's going on?!- She thought as the same thing continued to happen. -Why can't I hit it?!-

"Don't you see?" The voice said, "Without your partner around, you're helpless."

The beast ran towards her, grazing her side with it's horn and almost completely taking her arm off as it thrust up. She collapsed on the ground, holding her side where she was cut and was now starting to blled pretty badly.

-I don't think there's anything I can do to fight it.- She admitted inwardly.

"Giving up already? Where's the fun in that?!" The voice exclaimed, soudning disapointed.

The creature charged at her, again, this time piercing straight through her right arm. She yelped in pain.

"I'll have to make this last before I go after your partner."

-That's right. if I die, Neku might as well be dead, too.- She thought. -I need to run. Fight back, do SOMETHING!- She tried to stand back up, but the pain in her side was too great and she fell back down. -Damnit, I can barely even move, let alone stand.-

The beast backed up, preparing to attack once again. Katsumi tensed up, unable to move out of the way. She stared into its blank red eyes. It stomped its feet and started to run foreward.

"I hope you're ready to die!" The voice shouted, laughing maniacally.

"Look out!" Someone else shouted as a beam of white light shot down from the sky right onto the raging rhino. When it was gone, so too was the creature.

Katsumi looked around, trying to figure out what had just happened. She saw a worried Neku running towards her.

"Katsumi!" He was shouting, "Katsumi, are you all right?!" He knelt down next to her. "Let me see." He tried to move her hands, but she wouldn't budge. "I need to see how bad it is so that I can help! So please move your hands!" After a moment, she slowly moved her hands from the damaged area, as if she was ashamed. He gasped at the sight of that much blood.

"D-don't be mad..." She said quietly as he continued to stare at her arm in his hands.

His gaze snapped up at her, "Why would I be mad? You're hurt!"

"... Because I ran off and almost got myself and you killed..."

Now he looked shocked. "W-well, it's my fault this happened. If only I had followed you better, then you would be fine. But looks like today you're pretty lucky." For some reason, he turned and looked in the opposite direction. Katsumi tried to see what he was looking at, but she saw nothing special. "Oh!" He gasped. "The mission!" He quickly stood up, reaching into his pocket and taking out some small item. He held out that hand above her wounds and closed his eyes. A second passed and her cuts began to heal themselves.

Once they were completely closed, Neku opened his eyes and smiled. "There." He said, holding out his hand. She took it worrily, still expecting a lot of pain from the movement, and he pulled her to her feet. He checked the timer on his hand and froze.

"W-what is it?" She asked.

He turned to her, "I... Don't know if we can make it in time... There's only two minutes left..."

"What?!" She looked at her own hand. 2:17. "... Oh no... What do we do?"

"The only thing we can. We have to try!"

They ran into 104, having no trouble with the wall. Inside was just swamped with people. They couldn't take just two steps without bumping into someone.

"We'll have to force our way through." Neku stated, taking Katsumi by the hand and leading her across the floor so they wouldn't get seperated a second time.

As they moved up, each floor got worse and worse than the one before, Once they got to the fourth, Neku groaned and checked his timer, again. "Damnit! Less than 30 seconds left! There's no way we can make it up there in time! Why are there so many people here, anyway?"

"A sale." Katsumi said, pointing at all the red signs put up all over the room.

"Oh yeah." Neku stopped for a moment. "I remember her talking about it. I'm surprised I haven't seem her here, yet." He let go of Katsumi's hand and stared down at the ground.

"Her?" Katsumi asked curiously.

"A friend of mine." Neku briefly explained, seeming like he didn't really want to talk about the girl. He looked at his palm, again. "Ten secconds left... Looks like we have an actual reason to be erased this time."

Then, as if to prove him wrong, they felt a slight shock and the timer disapeared.

Neku looked surprised, but only for a moment, before he put his hands in his pockets and sighed with relief. "The other players." He said, looking much more calm, now.

"Huh?" She asked, not really understanding what just happened.

Neku turned to her and began to explain, "As long as someone completes the mission, we're all good. Yesterday, Beat mentioned that there was another team other than us left. They must have been able to complete the mission. Good thing, too, because there's no way we would have bee able to go up another two stories in uder 30 seconds. But for now..." He gave her a smile and she smiled back, "We're safe."

**-A/N: Let's see who can catch some things. :) **

**I'll send virtual cookies to all who review! **

**Love you all,  
~BlackRose**


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